App Tracks Women’s Data to Help Them Have Better Sex Lives

Having open and honest conversations about women’s sexual and reproductive health is pretty uncomfortable for many people. Sure, a lot of us make an effort to be less weird about topics like periods and pregnancy. But there are still some who haven’t quite gotten over the awkwardness.
That’s something the Max Levchin-backed data science startup,
Glow, is on a mission to change.

Today, the company released one more resource for women around sex, birth control, and other health issues: a new app called Ruby. The aim, according to the Glow team, is to help women better manage their sex life, cycle and health by giving them well-sourced, high quality information, and serving up personalized insights based on the data they choose to share in the app.

“We’ve never been shy about tackling taboo topics,” Jennifer Tye, vice president of partnerships and marketing at Glow, tells WIRED. “And we think the Ruby app and the community it provides can help women understand why its important to track our cycles and understand our bodies, have a better sense of signals our bodies are giving us, and ultimately be able to help women embrace the notion of having a healthy sex life.”

Of course, there are a few other apps that provide similar tools. Glow itself has released many of these in the past, including an app that aims to help women get pregnant or avoid pregnancies, an app that helps women deal with life after pregnancy, and an app for male reproductive health. But many tend to focus on certain narrow aspects of women’s health, like fertility and ovulation. According to Tye, Ruby is an app that focuses on women’s general sexual health and well-being.

On Ruby, women can track their sex and health information in the app after providing simple data points around their mood, any health symptoms they’re feeling, their level of activity, sleep and sex habits, and more. According to Tye, having all of the information in one place is helpful because it gives women the ability to recognize correlations and patterns across their cycles. And eventually, she says, the tool should be able to help women anticipate certain symptoms at different points in their cycle. The app also includes updated and detailed information about different birth control methods through a partnership with Bedsider, an online birth control support network.

Glow has also sought to keep one of its core values as a company very much intact with the launch of Ruby: maintaining an active and engaged community. Just like with its other apps, Ruby includes a forum so users can ask questions and gather feedback from women going through similar experiences. The company is even making an effort to reach beyond users of its app. As part of Ruby’s launch, Glow is working with nonprofit Huru International to help provide menstrual hygiene supplies and sex ed to young women in developing countries.

Source: http://www.wired.com